Parts from one Chinese rocket dey expected to fall back to Earth for one uncontrolled re-entry dis weekend.

Dem use di main segment from di Long March-5b vehicle to launch di first module of China new space station last month.

At 18 tonnes, na one of di largest items for decades wey go get undirected dive into di atmosphere.

Di US on Thursday tok say dem dey watch di path of di object but currently dem no get plans to shoot am down.

"We dey hopeful say e go land for place wia e no go harm anybody," US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin tok. "Hopefully for di ocean, or someplace like dat."

Various space debris modelling experts dey point to late Saturday or early Sunday (GMT) as di likely moment of re-entry.

However, such projections no really dey certain.

Originally injected into one elliptical orbit approximately 160km by 375km above Earth surface on 29 April, di Long March-5b core stage don dey lose height ever since.

Just how quickly di core orbit go continue to decay go depend on di density of air wey e go encounter for altitude and di amount of drag wey e produces

Dis details no too dey clear.